OKC transportation to expand with bus route
The announcement of Oklahoma City winning a $14.3 million federal grant for bus rapid transit (BRT) was the major topic of discussion as the Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer took questions from readers in Friday’s OKC Central Live Chat. You can join Steve’s Q&As on Fridays at 9:30 a.m. and submit your questions about the happenings in and around downtown Oklahoma City.
Q: How big a deal is the bus rapid transit line announced by Mayor David Holt?
A: We’ve seen a series of game changes over the past few years with our public transportation that started with an awakening among residents and city leaders that with our sprawling 621 square miles and working poor we must do better with our public transportation network.
Changes were made, starting with the most painful at first. Bus service routes were long drawn upthat served a lot of different areas poorly with no night service and no Sunday service.
Routes were streamlined and funding was provided to improve frequency. Ridership went up. Funding was provided to expand major routes to night time service. Ridership went up. Funding was provided for Sunday service — and I’m hearing this is also being well received.
Now we are set to start a streetcar operation in the greater downtown area starting Friday.
The bus rapid transit operation will directly benefit folks downtown by providing a quick and efficient link with frequency to and from Uptown, the Asian District (transit to Super Cao Supermarket!), the gateway to the Plaza District at NW 16 and Classen, and the vastly improved Homeland at NW 18 and Classen. And this BRT will hook up all the neighborhoods along the route to employers downtown, several major hospitals, the arena, the convention center and all the venues downtown and up and down the route. Yeah. This is a big deal. What’s next? We don’t know for sure, but MAPS 4 is coming and regional transit discussions are picking up speed. Imagine a streetcar extension into Capitol Hill and another through northeast Oklahoma City and even to Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base.
Imagine regional passenger rail to Edmond and Norman.
Imagine ... and realize these are dreams that have taken decades to come true.
Q: I know it is early, and the sketches sent out by the mayor are very preliminary, but looking at those two intersections it looks more like we are just dedicating an outside lane to the bus stops and no off board payment system. Other BRT I have seen were normally two dedicated lanes in the middle of the streets and a pretty elaborate metro style payment system off of the bus as opposed to once you get on the bus. Do you trust EMBARK and the city to do this properly to make the BRT as efficient as possible, or is this going to be a cheap hybrid?
A: If you had asked me a decade ago if I trusted what was then known as Metro Transit to get anything right and I would have diplomatically answered “no” with an explanation that also reflected a lack of funding and community support.
But we are at a different time and so much has changed. Look at how EMBARK successfully pulled off a radical change of their route structure, incrementally expanded nighttime service, and then responded to demands for Sunday service.
While I still have doubts and concerns with the choice of a linear vs. dual track for the streetcars, I’ve seen a dramatic improvement in how EMBARK operates and in its planning.
Can I ever say I really trust any public entity? No. I’m not wired that way. But I respect EMBARK’s operation these days and I see no reason to think they will mess this up. As for the details ... remember, this is where the real design and planning just get started.
Q: If the BRT is successful and increases public transportation riders, is our current spoke and hub model that relies on basically one transportation center near downtown going to be sufficient?
A: I don’t know. But we are a city of 621 square miles. And we are definitely becoming united with our major suburbs in terms of working together on regional transit. Who is to say we won’t have additional hubs in Midwest City, Norman and Edmond? We will certainly start seeing Santa Fe coming into play as a hub for downtown in addition to the NW 5 transfer station.
Q: Bus service in Oklahoma City tends to come with an undeserved stigma. Do you think BRT will bring in people that may not have wanted to use the bus before?
A: It should. The infrastructure will help in that regard.
Q: What developments are happening around Capitol Hill other than the Yale Theater?
A: We have several buildings purchased by Steve Mason and Aimee Ahpeatone that are set to be redeveloped and Jeff Austin is restoring the bank across from the Yale Theater. I’m also aware of plans to redevelop the old Union Bank.